What Influences Self-Perceived Quality of Life During an Economic Recession? The Case of Greece

Quality of life (QoL) is considered a multidimensional concept, which includes both subjective and objective components. Health, social, physical, and macro-economic environment, personality, lifestyle, and demographic and socioeconomic factors are considered the most important determinants of QoL. However, little is known about the factors that influence QoL at the individual level during periods of economic crisis. In 2010, two years after the start of the global financial crisis, the Greek economy was placed under the surveillance of the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, and the Greek economy entered a phase of severe recession. The objective of this study was to determine the factors affecting self-perceived QoL in Greece in times of austerity. Data from the national cross-sectional “Health and Welfare Survey” were used for this study. The data collection took place between 12/10/2016 and 1/20/2017, i.e., a period within the economic crisis. The sample consisted of 2003 respondents aged 18 years or over. The dependent variable was self-perceived QoL during the last two weeks. Because the response variable was ordinal, an ordinal logistic regression model was fitted. According to the analysis, self-perceived QoL depends on age, marital status, self-rated health, income, education, difficulty in paying the utility bills during the last 12 months, difficulty in responding to the cost of the everyday needs of the household during the last 12 months, religiosity, and smoking status. Because respondents who reported lower QoL were more disadvantaged, the results of this study confirm the international bibliography, providing evidence regarding the mechanism on the basis of which the economic crisis negatively affected the QoL of Greek citizens.